Battle Armor(ry)

Panorama of the Armory track from the infield.

As I progressed through my track workout of the week, my mind was racing, trying to figure out which lane to use, how to not get run over and basically stay out of the way of the college runners dong their workouts.  I was fighting the usual mental battles, can I go harder, can I finish this workout, can my body take this training load at my age, day to day, week to week.  My thoughts also wandered across the street to the hospital room where my father-in-law was fighting a battle too, a much more difficult one, one that would end in the way we never anticipated, never imagined.

You see, Norman Smith's life was one lived in pursuit of big goals, with a passion and drive that drove him to the top of every mountain he decided he wanted to climb, to the end of every trail he decided to hike, to meet any challenge he wanted to take on.  He was a few months shy of 91, but we all expected him to meet this final battle head on, and win as he always did...see it through to the end.  His list of accomplishments is quite long, he climbed the high point of every state and of five continents, he scaled most of the major peaks in the US.  He hiked the Appalachian trail after the age of 60, and many other trails all across the world.  This man did not give up, if he didn't make the first time, he would go back to and get it the next time.  

Late January, he ended up in the emergency room of Orange Regional Medical Center, in Middletown NY, on the same morning he was scheduled for a cardiac procedure.  He was later transferred to New York Presbyterian at Columbia.  The Hospital is located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, overlooking the Hudson River, George Washington Bridge and the Palisades. Anne and I braved the New Jersey Turnpike every weekend to be with him in the hospital.

The first weekend we visited him at Colombia, I noticed the Armory Track was immediately across the street from his hospital building.  I have been a distance runner since the 10th grade, so I have heard of the Milrose Games indoor meet and the legendary Armory track where it is held. 

It is amazing how they can fit everything in that small space.

During one of our trips to visit him, we stayed through the end of the day Tuesday, and I found I had enough time before our noon hotel checkout to do a ~45 min. run.  I checked the Armory website and found it was public use time at the track, wow, maybe I can actually run on this fabled track.  So, I arrived and paid the $20.00 single-day track fee, ouch, no breaks in NYC.  As I headed toward the track, i discovered it is located on the 3rd floor.

It was about 10:45 AM and the track was busy, jumpers working on approaches, sprinters working on starts and distance runners doing their variety of workouts.  Most of the athletes were college aged, predominantly from Columbia, there were also a few post college runners either in small groups or on their own doing a variety of workouts.  At first I was a little intimidated by the setting, and overwhelmed with all the things happening in that small space.  But I already paid the $, no backing out now.

Since I only had 45 minutes, I quickly came up with a modified version of the F&M Track club workout. After stripping off my outer layers (it was 20* and snowing outside), and doing a little stretching, I did a 10 min warm-up, then the workout of 3 by 5 minutes, with 3 minutes rest, followed by a 3 minute hard effort.  All the while, I was trying to figure out which lane to run in, by watching the others.  I did my warm-up in the outer lanes, but saw a few runners doing intervals in those lanes, so I moved more toward the middle.  I did my hard efforts in the inside lane, and recovered in lane 2 or 3.  There was a group of  about 10 Columbia middle distance runners doing fast 300s and 200s.  At one point I was about to move up the track for a recovery phase, and heard one of them yell as they were about to come over top of me.  I quickly stepped off the track on the inside to avoid a collision.  Yikes, that was close.

The track was lively and fast, and it was inspiring to run in this setting where so many great races have happened, and records have been set.  The workout went fast, and all too soon, I needed to wrap it up and get back to the hotel.

Throughout the workout, I imagined what it would be like to race on that track. This is a place where people came to test themselves, to compete for a dream.  Across the street, in a hospital bed was a man who also tested himself, overcame his doubts and fears, pushed through pain and discomfort to reach the summit or the end of a long trail.  I was inspired, I was challenged, I had experienced the Armory track.

At noon on February 16th, with his children by his side, Norm shed his mortal body, and left us on this earth to remember and grieve.  As we reflect, we will miss so many things, but we will also be inspired to take on extraordinary challenges, and believe with the right amount of preparation and planning, we can achieve great things.